Notes from PackExpo 2023

With pandemic years behind us, the industry is just coming out of the shock of 100% remote work and supply chain problems. The PackExpo 2023 held in Las Vegas’ Convention Center this September was a testimony to the packaging industry’s optimism about the near future. The number of exhibitors as well as attendees exceeded the expectations. Based on PMMI: The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies report, “nearly 32,000 attendees, the most in the show’s history, actively engaged with more than 2,300 exhibitors.”

Anecdotally, exhibitors with whom I had a chance to interact, all had better than expected results in terms of number of visitors to their booths and the quality of leads they managed to generate. The optimism was palpable in the air of the Convention Center.

My goal in attending the show, besides reconnecting with old friends and making new ones, was to see whether the industry did not waste the crisis and spent the pandemic time to innovate.

Here is a short list of the new solutions I encountered while browsing the exhibit halls:

Many packaging component manufacturers are focused on figuring out how to make their products more sustainable, whether it is decreasing plastic material use, increasing the PCR content in their components, or creating fully recyclable packages in space where it was not previously available.

I also observed an increased focus on package functionality. Here are a few examples of it:

? New vent systems allowing for gases to escape while not letting the external air to get inside the package

? Nutraceutical brands now have more choices of dispensing solutions for their solid forms of vitamins and supplements. Besides MRP Solutions’ flagship dispensing lines and Drug Plastics’ dispensing closures, Phoenix and Pano now also offer dispensing caps that fit standard pill bottles.

? Flexible packages now also have a child-resistant feature with built-in re-closure mechanisms. A few rigid package manufacturers are experimenting with a new way of delivering the CR function, such as “push-n-squeeze” one-handed operation package from Drug Plastics.

If you attended the PackExpo show this year, please share your impressions in Comments!